Ray's Ramblings: 2018 Umpire Update

If you play in the DFS game, you likely take a look at umpires when setting your lineup, though many in the season long game might be failing to take advantage of the performance of the men who control the games. This article is intended to cause you to at least consider who the umpire is each day you’re setting your lineups, whether you are setting your hurler or hitter lineup.

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WHAT TO KNOW

1 – Umpires don’t control where they call games meaning they don’t have any control over calling a game at Coors Field or in San Diego.

2 – Umpires have no control who is on the mound when they are behind the plate (i.e. they have no control over pitchers on the bump).

3 – Umpires can’t control batters ability to hit a grounder, a fly ball or a home run. They can have a low or high strike zone which might bleed into the pitches that batters attack, but they still can’t control the contact. Umpires also can’t control batters swinging and missing at strikes, but you all know that. They also cannot control batters who swing at pitches that are nowhere near the strike zone.

4 – It stands to reason that the larger the sample size the better. It’s not too early to make the call on an umpire, but the more data the better. Therefore, the umpires in the middle are likely to be middle-ish, though those with large disparities up or down might be something to look at closely since there might be a reason for such a wide disparity (i.e. the guy has a small or large strike zone).

5 – Umpires certainly have tendencies, no one disputes that. The larger the sample size the better for that.

So, what follows is a chart with umpires and the results when they have been behind the plate.

GREEN means good for hitters.

RED means good for pitchers.

You can hear Ray, Monday through Friday, on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). Ray is on The Fantasy Drive 7-10 PM EST M/TU/TH/F and 8-10 Weds, and he’s also on the Guru Elite Show Thursday from 2-4 PM EST. You can follow Ray on Twitter at @baseballguys.